You might like them or not, but you should definitely test your website and see whether sticky (fixed) headers are something that make your visitors want to stay longer and browse more of your content. Better User Experience Having a sticky header on your website will enable people spend less time scrolling and searching, allowing […]

You might like them or not, but you should definitely test your website and see whether sticky (fixed) headers are something that make your visitors want to stay longer and browse more of your content.

Better User Experience

Having a sticky header on your website will enable people spend less time scrolling and searching, allowing them to find the information they need with minimal effort.

Using a fixed header makes users feel in control throughout the browsing process of your website. This is extremely important for overall user experience. No one wants to feel like they’re wasting time or can’t quickly and efficiently navigate. As a result of moje enjoyable experience, you’ll gain more returning visitors and more customers.

The better user experience you provide through your website, the more likely it is that users will recommend it to other people. Search engines also value user experience as an important part of their search ranking criteria, so having a sticky header could make a big difference in terms of SEO.

Easier Navigation

Using a sticky header reduces the time needed for your audience to navigate around and read more of your website. It reduces the amount of scrolling and gives people a simple and always-visible navigation. Sometimes on smaller screens a sticky header takes up space, which can be frustrating for your readers and that’s why it’s good to be able to hide your header in those cases.

It’s become the most common thing to have a sticky header slide in as you begin to scroll down and your original header reappear as you navigate back to the top of your website. This way your branding and your navigation is always visible.

Navigation is one of the most critical elements. It should be easy to access and reach the information visitors need in as little time as possible. If your website navigation is too complicated, users will simply click off and look for the information they need elsewhere.

Better Branding

The more people see your logo, the more likely they are to remember and recognize it in the future, so make it visible at all times.

Your logo is something you want people to subconsciously keep in mind while browsing.

Sticky headers provide advantages like quick and easy navigation, but they also have brand building benefits. A website’s header will usually include your brand name and logo, so if you were to fix the header to the top of the screen, this would keep the branding of your website at the front and center of your users’ attention at all times. The more users see your branding (whether they are consciously looking at it or not) the more likely they are to remember it and recognize it in the future.

Plugins

To pull this off, you can either hard-code your fixed header using many of the tutorials found on the web or you can use the following WordPress plugins, coded with best practices in mind.

1. Sticky Header by ThematoSoup

Sticky Header by ThematoSoup WordPress plugin

You can tweak it from within your theme’s customizer. You need to create at least one navigation menu before you can add it to Sticky Header. The menu in Sticky Header shows only first level items, so no submenu items.

You are free to upload your custom sticky header logo. Ideally, this logo should be 30px tall or it will be resized to this height. If you don’t upload a logo image, then your site title will be used.

You can choose the background and text color and make it match your website, the font family will be inherited from your website. Also, there’s an option to hide your WordPress header if a visitor uses a mobile device, so no screen real-estate is wasted.

Another good implementation of Awesome Header is header area that shrinks in height to accommodate more screen real estate as you make your way down the page. It also supports submenus, up to 3 levels deep.

Its purpose is to make your website more useful, user friendly and to improve the general look and feel, even on narrow screens. If you enable Breadcrumb functionality (WooCommerce & bbPress Breadcrumb support), your website will have rich snippets in search engine result pages and that improves click-through-rates.

It uses Genericons, font icons so your social buttons look great even on retina screens. The benefits of having Awesome Header as your WordPress header are many:

Better branding

Better usability

Make your header 100% responsive

Better Click-Through rate with Breadcrumb Microdata

More page views per visit because of ever-visible navigation

Lower bounce rate because of better UX

With Awesome Header you can set your own color schemes and make it match your website look and feel, so everything blends in nicely. You can also create many different looks, depending on how many menus you enable, how you position them (left, center or right) or by using many of the Awesome Header filter hooks and actions (if you’re a developer).

You can download Awesome Header via CodeCanyon for $16. Considering your header section is the most important one, the control you get by replacing and testing different navigation and branding configurations should be well worth it.

You never want your header to take up the whole screen, so make it as light and slim as possible. Try different layouts and see which one performs best.

Fixed headers are becoming increasingly popular, because they add value in terms of both usability and aesthetics. They help improve user experience of your website, but they also enable you to keep your branding always visible, subconsciously putting a signature to your content.

WordPress is definitely one of the best go-to platforms if you want to join the internet, especially when you don’t have too many initial assets. The great thing about WordPress is that it offers a large amount of free stuff and great community, which means fairly good support. Free stuff doesn’t always mean good stuff, […]

WordPress is definitely one of the best go-to platforms if you want to join the internet, especially when you don’t have too many initial assets. The great thing about WordPress is that it offers a large amount of free stuff and great community, which means fairly good support.

Free stuff doesn’t always mean good stuff, but it can.

3 Things to Guide You

There are many good free themes and plugins to get you started or even to get you going all the way. Besides better support and updates, premium WordPress solutions can also have premium features. The greatest truth is those features can help it, but they do not have superpowers. In order to stay user-friendly, you site needs to be:

As simple as possible and free of unnecessary options

Focused & direct in conveying messages

Rich in content

If you’re an end-user and want to amplify your voice by going online, don’t hire anyone, try it yourself. It used to be hard, but it’s not anymore. There are a lot of detailed guides to help you pull this off and learn something useful in the process.

WordPress is created simple and easy to use. You should not need someone else’s help to run your own online business.

If you think it will take a lot of time, you’re wrong. You can do it within a day. After some research I found many online resources and I suggest you try this comprehensive website setup guide. Try it and tell me what you think.

Simplicity For Perfection

If you need a website or you want to start a blog, you probably already have a real-world business or idea that you’d like to propel. Today it should be easy. If you speak English, you can just follow the instructions and create your own website or blog in no time.

And when you have finally created your account and started posting your own content, you will be standing at a crossroads. You have to decide whether you are going to rely on visual tricks and interesting add-ons or you are going to focus on the content that is important for your business and useful for your visitors.

If you don’t have much experience in creating online content easily you can fall into the trap of enriching their WordPress-based business site with tons of visually attractive but actually unnecessary details. If you keep the content simple and straightforward, your clients will find the essential bits and the online content will help you improve the offline business, as well.

For WordPress hosting solutions you can refer to WordPress.org hosting page or if you’re local business, you should try to find a hosting company that has servers near your location.

Focus for Better Conversions and User Experience

When you are trying to come up with the best possible ideas for your site or blog, remembering some positive and negative experiences with other websites is a very valuable self-feedback. By doing so, you can anticipate some common rough places that can be avoided if you make an attempt at estimating such possibilities.

If you noticed somewhere that an email newsletter you received had been written in a chaotic or confusing way, you can make a different type of email on your website or make a signup form more prominent or ever-visible, like we have it here on ThematoSoup.

If you don’t like popup windows asking for all sorts of info from you, then don’t serve it to your visitors. Remembering such situations can be of great help when deciding on the options for your website or blog.

Installing analytics software and monitoring what kind of content does well with your audience is also a hint of direction your website should follow.

Your homepage should be focused to no more than one (maybe two) messages or call to actions. Busy homepage makes it hard for your visitors to decide what they want to do or if they want to stay.

Too Many Options – Nemesis of Functionality

Creators of WordPress themes and plugins can be perceived as artists. Their work includes a knack for visual arts, which is then packed in a WordPress product.

The decision you have to make is whether you want your website to be a tool for finding and amplifying your voice and strengthening your business or an online fair of colors and plugin decorations.

The reason why you should think about using plugins is to increase your profit and make them assist your business.

The more options you incorporate, the bigger the chance something will go wrong.

Content or Viral Content with Limited Effect

Today the word viral has been one of the buzzwords of the Internet world. In order to gain recognition and popularity, many website, blog and social media users are inclining towards viral content.

Viral videos, photos and shared posts spread like an online plague to ignite curiosity within online audience. Would it be beneficial for your business? Do your business results and goals depend on an ice-bucket challenge celebrity video? If the answer is no, then you should never publish such content on your website.

Video materials can be of great help for your business, but the ones that you have made by yourself or the ones relevant for your work. If you have a car repair shop and an appropriate WordPress website related to it, you should post your own repairs or interesting solutions that you have devised for your clients.

WordPress offers a lot of options for multimedia content, but again, it is up to you to stay strict and concentrated on your work and business. Distracting your visitors and clients in any business might turn them away, so be on point and spend time creating content for your website. For making that content SEO friendly, follow these evergreen guidelines.

Your business is something you should nurture and take care of, your website is just the extension of it and needs that same attention. Starting with one clear message and then expanding or tweaking it is the way to go. Most people don’t like to think too much when online, so make browsing your website a joyful experience and something they’ll remember.

We rarely do theme roundups on ThematoSoup (this is a guest post by the guys from TemaplateMonster), but these WordPress themes may just be worth it. Give them a try and tell us what you think. Do you regularly do seasonal shopping? Most people want to look better and be in vogue when they finally […]

Author information

I'm one of the ardent members of the friendly copywriters’ society. I have a very curious nature and a long list of topics waiting to be featured. I constantly research in order not to miss a thing happening in the world of web design and development.

We rarely do theme roundups on ThematoSoup (this is a guest post by the guys from TemaplateMonster), but these WordPress themes may just be worth it. Give them a try and tell us what you think.

Do you regularly do seasonal shopping? Most people want to look better and be in vogue when they finally shrug off their warm winter clothing. They strive to wear brighter colors and look younger and fresher. Fair enough?

But what about your website? Don’t you think that it also deserves rebranding and refreshing? However, this will work only if you already have the one. Does your company still remain in the shade of competitors boasting their trendy online presentations? It’s time to wipe the smile off their faces and, finally, build your own website. Be assured, I will try to do everything I can to simplify the task for you.

It’s not a secret that there are two ways to launch a website. You can hire a designer to make it from scratch or use a template. A custom design is great if you can afford it, of course. Don’t forget that the issues don’t end when your site is up and running. You will have to make regular updates (read investments) if you have no coding skills yourself. Yes, this way can prove costly, as they say.

The second way is much quicker, simpler and cheaper. We are talking about building a website crafted on the basis of a quality template from reputable providers like TemplateMonster, Modern Themes, Thematosoup and others.

Should I recap some of the principal reasons why site owners and designers like to use pre-designed themes for their projects? OK, here we go:

First of all you see what you get even before paying for it. So, no disappointments are waiting for you in the future.

Designed by pros, themes are easy to customize. Besides, in the process of customization you gradually acquire necessary skills for further website maintenance.

Reputable web development companies always follow the latest web design trends and apply only advanced technologies. So, your website will look modern and be usable both for user and admin.

Of course, this list could be continued, but what’s the sense? It’s much better to get practical help than just listen to how good something may be.

Below I have gathered 20 free WordPress themes. I don’t think that there is a point in explaining why we have chosen this CMS. Everybody knows that it’s popular, extremely user-friendly and customizable. Are you ready to experiment? Then, choose from the following list of the best and the newest themes.

Photolab

Photolab theme is designed in flat style and has a modern clean look. It is ideal for creating an engaging blog. The theme consists of a standard set of pages and is centered around the blog section. It’s accessible from the Blog page and the front page, which presents posts of various types (articles, quotations, photos, videos). Each type of blog content is separated in a block marked with a certain color bar with an icon on it. The responsive nature of the theme offers its viewers a pleasant experience on most handheld devices.

Cat Walk

This theme was designed for fashion agencies. It has been created in minimalist style. When one of the menu items is crossed, this means that you are on the relevant page at that moment. Brief information about the agency is below the model photos which open in a lightbox on being clicked.

Globaly

This responsive theme is good for business companies. HTML plus JS animation make its viewing more engaging. The theme is enhanced with Bootstrap and Cherry Framework functionality, so its customization won’t cause you any problems. All necessary documentation is delivered in a package with the theme.

Melissa

This theme will be suitable for a professional photographer’s portfolio site. It’s 100% responsive, so will look good on screens of any size. Audio player and video integration are also possible which will make your portfolio even more impressive.

Moesia

Here a screen-wide photo welcomes the visitors. Eleven predefined blocks are available to build your corporate home page. Each of the homepage blocks can have a parallax background image and its own set of colors. Get to know some more usable features of Moesia: a selection of Google Fonts, two types of layouts for the blog page, cool animations and effects and a parallax header to name just a few.

Customizr

Customizr WordPress theme can be used easily to create any type of website: business, blogs, portfolios, landing pages, forums, e-commerce sites, etc. It has a set of live preview options, so technical skills to design and add content to your website are not required. The theme is responsive. It adapts to any type of device: desktops, tablets and smartphones and is compatible with all modern browsers.

Serene

Serene is an airy blogging theme with post format support. The essence of this theme lies in the simplistic and spacious design. Browsing the theme is easy both for the eyes and for the mind because each new post appears like a breath of fresh air.

Make

Make is a smart, simple, and incredibly powerful drag and drop Page Builder at the core, specially designed to help you build the page layouts you wish. All you need to do is click to add Columns, Banner, Gallery, Products, Posts List, or Downloads sections to your page. Mix and match sections. Configure layouts. Do all this without messing with a single line of code. The Page Builder was developed to make you feel as though you are using a native WordPress dashboard. By the way, even Chris Lema’s (a famous WordPress advisor trusted by millions) site is built on the basis of this theme.

Mustang

Mustang theme is very easy to use. It offers support for drag & drop Visual Composer page builder even in its free Lite version. Polygons in the background and Parallax scroll make the layout trendy. Nice hover effects breathe life into it.

Cazuela

This responsive, free and simple theme uses only native WordPress functionality, so it’s light, stable and future proof. Your blog or business website will be up and running within minutes. All settings are gathered in one place and easily accessible via Theme Customizer.

Main theme’s features are: responsiveness, two layout types (boxed and full width), 11 color schemes, 8 body fonts and 7 heading fonts, four page templates – widgetized homepage, masonry, authors & sitemap, there are 3 main and 7 additional widget areas you can use in your website, child theming, and so on.

BLDR

This free multipurpose WP theme not only has an appealing layout, but lots of usable features. It comes with standard page templates as well as the sample content and layouts. This will help you launch your site in no time. Every little thing can be changed right in the native WordPress theme customizer. Custom CSS panel is also included. BLDR is cross-browser compatible, has a built in color picker, comes with a selection of fonts from the Google library, included PSD files, sample content, is SEO-conscious and gets free updates forever.

Readit

Want to create a popular blog? Consider this free theme. Here are some of its awesome features. Readit is provided with standard page templates as well as sample content and layouts. Change everything in the native WordPress theme customizer. CSS custom panel is also included. Plus many other cool features like cross-browser compatibility, unlimited colors, Google fonts, PSD files, sample content, SEO optimization and free updates.

Sensible

This modern theme is suitable for almost any type of business. It comes with a bundle of page templates and is compatible with WooCommerce. Customize everything via the WordPress theme customizer or CSS panel. Make use of unlimited colors, Google fonts, sample content and other standard features to create a really unique website.

Gridsby

A fresh, modern way to display your photos in Pinterest style. Images open up in a full-screen overlay lightbox effect with social sharing. A hidden menu that slides out from the left sidebar and modest social media icons at the right top corner of the page don’t distract the visitor from viewing.

Layers

Layers is a WordPress site builder. It’s so simple that you’ll feel yourself a pro even if you have no special skills. Layers is activated as a WordPress theme and works directly with the built-in WordPress Customizer. A code-free interface gives full control over the content and aesthetics of the site even to amateurs. Download Layers and plunge into the process of creation. You can make everything, from child themes to useful extensions, or just contribute to the core.

Rectangulum

This full-screen theme is suitable both for personal blogs and corporate websites. What makes this WordPress theme different? It stands out due to many reasons. I’ll name just a few of them. Rectangulum uses the built-in WordPress theme Customizer for simple theme customizations including custom logo upload, the color of all elements, homepage selection, footer text and more. Additionally, it has a slideshow responsive layout (FlexSlider v2.1) instead of the usual layout of tiles.

Oprum

This multi-purpose theme is responsive and is suitable for creativity and business projects. All settings are done via Live Theme Customizer. Not only is it ready for integration of WooCommerce and WooTestimonial plugins, but has custom widgets to display posts in video format, gallery, quote or aside in places like sidebars (sidebar or footer). The theme is ready to connect Jetpack WordPress. Turn on Infinite Scroll, Related Posts, Sharing, Tiled Galleries, Widget Visibility. Create custom menus just entering the link to your social media channels (All popular + Feeds FeedBurner) with social icon menu. Please note that this is not a full list of theme’s features.

Wrap up

Our small parade of free WordPress themes has come to its end. I sincerely hope that you will find some of them good for rebranding and refreshing your website. Please let us know which of them you like the most and why. If you prefer paid themes or custom designs, share your reasons. I’m sure that the community is interested in your opinion. Speak up, your feedback is much appreciated.

Author information

I'm one of the ardent members of the friendly copywriters’ society. I have a very curious nature and a long list of topics waiting to be featured. I constantly research in order not to miss a thing happening in the world of web design and development.

With as much time as you spend researching, writing, formatting and publishing amazing content, you deserve to have your work appreciated. Unfortunately, the stark truth is that many blogs with excellent content don’t get read because of one often overlooked aspect of blogging: design. Whether you’re an amateur learning how to start a blog or […]

Author information

Gary Dek

Gary Dek is a professional blogger, writer and SEO expert. He helps new and experienced bloggers grow their online businesses.

With as much time as you spend researching, writing, formatting and publishing amazing content, you deserve to have your work appreciated. Unfortunately, the stark truth is that many blogs with excellent content don’t get read because of one often overlooked aspect of blogging: design.

Whether you’re an amateur learning how to start a blog or a full-time, professional blogger, you need to understand that blog design plays just as important a role as your content, SEO and marketing strategy. In order to better grasp the situation, you have to know something about the nature of online readers.

StatisticBrain.com reported that the average person has an attention span of 8 seconds and, based on a survey by KISSmetrics, 47% of readers leave a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load!

The ultimate result is low on-page times, high bounce rates, fewer conversions, and less revenue. Fortunately, there are some basic changes even amateur bloggers can implement to improve their site’s metrics.

Below, you will find a number of blog design tips to guarantee your content gets read and shared.

Choose a simple, yet beautiful WordPress theme

“Beautiful” doesn’t have to mean elaborate or complicated. Instead, a beautiful design can mean organized, functional, and geared towards enhancing the user experience. And since the user has come to your site to absorb information or utilize a tool, the focus of your WordPress blog should be on the content.

Navigation must be straightforward. Make it easy for the reader to find what he wants or needs. At the very least, links to the Navigation Menu, About Page, Contact Page, and Search Bar/Button should be prominently placed. Don’t make the user look for them!

Leverage whitespace by focusing on your best content. While we will discuss this in more detail below, it is very important to note that bloggers should never try to advertise all their content on one page. When given too many choices, consumers become confused and leave. Instead, focus on your most high value propositions and properly space out different sections.

“Home” button or logo reverts to homepage. Don’t make users click the “Back” button continuously. If a user wants to return to your homepage, make sure your header or logo is clickable. Similarly so that it will take the user back to the main page with a single click.

Use a single sidebar. While some WordPress themes allow you to incorporate a double sidebar theme, this can be confusing for users who are used to reading content on the left and navigating on the right.

Use neutral colors. While you may want your page to make a splash by using bold colors, bright and vibrant colors on a page can often be blinding on different monitors. Stick to a mostly neutral color palette and use dashes of vivid color for headlines or graphics.

Make it fast by reducing page bloat

According to CrazyEgg, every 1-second extra it takes for your page to load can result in 11% less page views and 7% less conversions, so don’t make users wait. There is enough competition and search results out there that visitors can simply move on to a site that isn’t slow.

So what do you do to make your blog pages load fast?

Remove the ‘bloat’. All unnecessary widgets and plugins should be removed from a page. Not only does this reduce calls to the server – resulting in faster load times – but it also de-clutters your site.

Compress images. Large size images add a heavy strain on servers, making for slow loading times. When inserting images into blog posts, be sure to resize them in Photoshop and use the “Save For Web” feature within the program. Similarly, you can use WordPress plugins that reduce image file sizes without you having to do it manually. WP Smush.it is a good option.

Install a caching plugin. If you’ve built a high traffic site, it’s time to use W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache. These plugins will create static, faster versions of highly visited pages.

Remove unnecessary code. If there are sections of pages or code that you don’t utilize (default “Author Box” or “Meta Data” code embedded into themes), feel free to remove them. This can be especially useful if you are using a Fancier Author Box and don’t need the default one that comes with WordPress themes.

A mobile-friendly design is essential

If you check your Google Analytics under Audience > Mobile > Overview, you find a breakdown of Desktop, Mobile and Tablet visitors. With Google, Facebook, Yahoo and every major internet company focusing on mobile users, building a mobile-friendly is a necessity, even if mobile traffic comprises a small percentage of your overall traffic.

If you don’t want to code – or don’t have the skill set – use plugins such as WPtouch Mobile, iThemes Mobile, Duda Mobile, Any Mobile Theme Switcher, or WP Mobile Edition that automatically create a mobile version of your site.

Make your content easy to consume

Online visitors tend to scan and skim articles, looking for chunks of information instead of reading an article in-depth. This means that your task is to make sure your content fits their reading habits.

How do you improve readability and the user experince as a blogger?

Start with a great headline, a shocking statistic, or promise a result.

Write paragraphs that are 5 to 7 sentences long.

Speak directly to the reader by using the pronouns “You” and “I”.

Organize your content with sub-headings. This will give a physical flow that makes it easier to read.

Use bullet points.

Use captions, block quotes, or pull quotes to highlight important points.

Use images and other visual aids (infographics, pictures, charts, graphs, videos, GIFs, etc.) to pull readers in and break up long chunks of text.

Tell a personal story.

Flaunt your best content

According to The New York Times, the more likes your post already has, the more people will like it as well. This is the concept of social validation and hype at work. The thinking is, “If a lot of people like a certain blog post, it must be good, so I’ll share and like it as well.” Take advantage of this psychological phenomenon by showing off your best content with a “Popular Posts” section in your sidebar and adding a sharing plugin.

You should also use a WordPress author box plugin, something similar to the one we use on this website. This increases credibility and creates reader-author connection.

Final Word

If your blog is not getting enough traffic or you are seeing too high a bounce rate, but know your content is high quality, look more closely at your blog’s design. You may be self-sabotaging your results and preventing your blog from growing. Yet before you complete a major re-design, take the time to fix the small things that can make a huge difference in your blog’s performance.

What about your experiences? If you’ve got design tips and plugins that work to enhance the user experience and get your content share, please share them with me below!

Author information

Gary Dek

Gary Dek is a professional blogger, writer and SEO expert. He helps new and experienced bloggers grow their online businesses.

Blogging is like trying to build a car; you can’t really do much without tools to help you do it. Writing a post is all well and good, but at the end of the day they’re just words. To really capture and engage your readers, you’ll need some spice and pizzazz to keep them around. […]

Author information

Matt Banner

Matt Banner is the author of On Blast Blog. He strives to provide blogging insight for beginning bloggers. You can sign up to his free blogging course here http://www.onblastblog.com/free-updates/.

Blogging is like trying to build a car; you can’t really do much without tools to help you do it. Writing a post is all well and good, but at the end of the day they’re just words. To really capture and engage your readers, you’ll need some spice and pizzazz to keep them around. On top of that, you’ll need some tools that can help you check for optimization and optimal writing style.

I can see you pulling out your wallet, but don’t go swiping your credit card just yet. Yes, some of these tools come with a fee, but in a lot of cases they are actually free. Let’s take a look at eight of the tools that the most successful blogs use to keep themselves in top form.

Make the Most of Your Blog with These Tools

The world of blogging is intense and competitive, that much is true. That being said, these hidden secret weapons are something you should be using every time you sit down to make magic happen. You may have heard of some, but I’m thinking there’s going to be a lot of ah hah moments coming up very soon. There’s plenty of tools out there beyond these but I can safely say that we use them as some of On Blast Blog’s blogging tools so let’s dive in.

1. Hemingway

Here’s something we all hate: editing our posts. You just spend six hours crafting the perfect piece of content. You don’t want someone telling you that anything’s wrong with it because it’s a flawless masterpiece. Yeah, sorry to burst your bubble, but no one’s perfect. Trust me, I would know and I’m working on it.

This free tool called Hemingway is a great way to get a quick overview of your content and how it could be improved. No, this isn’t the temperamental spell check from Microsoft Word. This is a comprehensive tool that does the following:

It tells you how many words, characters, and paragraphs you have

You can see how many Adverbs you’re using and how many is ideal

It points out needlessly complicated sentences that could be simpler

You’ll see uses of passive voice highlighted as well

It takes all of this and puts it into a score that represents the lowest possible grade level education needed to understand your content (Lower is better).

2. WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast

I absolutely love WordPress, and so does just about everyone else and their grandmothers. Yoast is responsible for a lot of great WordPress plugins, but the SEO one they offer is an absolute must in your toolbox.

There’s nothing simple about SEO, but this plugin will give you an easy-to-read breakdown of your on-page optimization and how you can improve it. You can customize your title tag, meta description and more with this free tool.

Install this plugin and view an SEO breakdown at the bottom of each post you write

Add a focus keyword and see how often it’s used and where

Customize your title tag and meta description for additional optimization

It’s free!

3. Atomic Reach

You’ve got this blog and it’s amazing. With over 100 posts, you just can’t understand why you’re not doing better in organic traffic and conversions. What gives? Well, you may not be targeting your audience correctly. It’s all good, it happens and it’s fixable. Say hello to Atomic Reach!

This tool comes in both a free and paid form. It allows you to see your blogs impact on the chosen niche and audience based on a number of factors. You’re assigned an “Atomic Score” that represents how well your content lines up with your readers.

Create an account on the website and take time to fill out the details

See a breakdown in the free tool based on your blog, content marketing, and publishing

There are paid options for additional tools to give you more awareness

4. SEMRush

Keywords, keywords everywhere! Knowing how to write your content is fueled by using the right words not only to optimize your work, but to also properly target your audience. The best way to find the right words is to see what your competitors are doing, but even that can be a daunting task.

All of those problems disappear with SEMRush. This tool allows you to see what keywords are being used successfully by your competition. Beyond this, you can also see various other metrics that are fueling the success of other sites in your niche. This complete breakdown is invaluable in evaluating your own blog.

Registration is free, the tools have a monthly subscription

View keywords, graphs, breakdowns and more from your competition’s websites

Better your own blog by using what works

5. Quora

High quality content is defined by its value. In just about every case, there’s a problem or a question that your readers have. If your article, post, podcast, or anything in between can solve that problem, or answer the question then you’ve got yourself a fantastic post. I know what you’re thinking, you need a question before you can provide an answer.

That’s why Quora is such an important (and free) tool that bloggers use. You can search your keywords and see what people are saying about that topic. Once you’ve got a feel for what your readers want to know, you can provide it to them.

All it takes is creating an account on the site (it’s free)

Search your target keywords and see what people are saying

Put together a post, then join the discussion to invite new readers to check it out.

6. Buffer

Imagine combining all of your social media tasks into one easy to use dashboard. Hard to picture, isn’t it? Well, luckily you don’t have to because Buffer’s got you covered. Promoting and marketing your content is incredibly important. This free tool will help you take care of it all in a fraction of the time.

You can create posts for all of your social media profiles and set a date and time for them to be posted up to a week in advance! This one dashboard will empower you to get all the marketing and promotion for your posts done ahead of the curve.

This free tool brings all your social media profiles into one place

Create and schedule posts up to a week in advance

See suggestions and trending topics as well

7. Heatmap

Designing your blog is a constant process. Testing it is also important, so this is a fantastic tool to see how you’re doing in real-time. Heatmap shows your website’s design elements as if they were being read by an infrared heat scanner. You’ll see where people are clicking or looking and know what’s working and what isn’t.

This is a great program that allows you to test and see design elements at any point during your day.

Watch as your website’s heat is shown in real-time

Make changes and tweak design based on what you see

8. Visme

Credibility is built upon data and what better way to showcase your data than with fancy charts and infographics? This tool allows you to create and utilize various types of data images on your blog. You won’t need to hire a graphic designer either, it’s easy and intuitive to use.

Throw in widgets, charts, graphs, anything you can think of and watch your posts pop with color and credibility. Visme makes it easy.

Over 40 templates to choose from

Easy to use and navigate

Free for the first three projects $4.50/month after that

A Life Less Complicated: Tips for Using These Tools Every Day

If your staring into an open toolbox and wondering how all these pieces fit, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Having the tools at your disposal is one thing, but knowing how to best use them is another matter entirely. That being said, keep these tips in mind when you go to use these blogging tools:

Graphs, charts, and infographics add credibility and with tools like Visme, they don’t have to be difficult

Connect with your readers using an author bio plugin and understand them better with tools like Quora

Keep yourself in check and find opportunities to improve with tools like Atomic Reach

It’s Not Easy, But it Doesn’t Have to be Hard Either

Blogging may have been a hobby once, but now it’s a career decision and that’s a good thing. Don’t sell yourself short or undercut yourself by making things more complicated than they need to be. These blogging tools will help you get your best work out there and promote it as well, so take advantage of them.

A holiday season is a golden chance for any business, especially for eCommerce to boost its sales and attract more loyal customers. I believe you all have experienced many intensive holiday sales year round from Black Friday to Thanksgiving to Christmas and so on. Are your websites totally ready for the holiday rush? I can […]

Author information

Jenny Hoang

Proud to be a happy piece of WooRockets. Sharing and learning interesting stuff is what I love. Feel free to keep in touch with me and speak your mind in the comment section below.

A holiday season is a golden chance for any business, especially for eCommerce to boost its sales and attract more loyal customers. I believe you all have experienced many intensive holiday sales year round from Black Friday to Thanksgiving to Christmas and so on. Are your websites totally ready for the holiday rush?

I can properly imagine how these holidays can drive you crazy with a snow-storm of customer orders, while trying to boost your sales strategy as well as keeping your site running safe and sound with so much extra traffic. Thus, I came up with this post to provide you with useful tips and WooCommerce plugin recommendations to take advantage of every holiday season in the year.

1.Deck your stores with tons of joy

I have no doubt that this can be the most exciting part we all love to do when holidays are getting near. Have your online stores well decorated with a stunning holiday theme design. For example, you can change the main theme’s colors and typography to match a holiday theme, like green and red which are Christmas colors, while black can remind us of Black Friday.

Besides, you can consider using themes with a predesigned layout for holiday styles. For this option, I highly recommend the beautifully crafted eMax theme from WooRockets. eMax is a beautiful WooCommerce theme for your store featuring a seasonal theme style that can support your website’s holiday makeover effortlessly.

In addition to changing website themes to one related to a holiday, I believe that some tips below will be very helpful for you to take a good care of your eCommerce stores on those busy days:

Set up interesting effects and eye-catching banners in prime position to catch visitors’ attention.

Use countdown WooCommerce plugins to countdown to the official sales date, such as: “Big Sale is Coming in…” on the home page or landing page. This can make customers feel much more eager to join in your big sales.

Enhance your site with featured product categories or a showcase of best-selling products to add some holiday atmosphere. I suggest the Best Selling products plugin which is a quick, easy way to add best-selling products by category on the front page.

Do not forget to set holiday Call to action (CTA) buttons matching with your theme and typography. The best is a design that goes well with one focused CTA. For example, you can add a “Buy now” button in holiday products page or a “Tell me more” button about special offers.

Remove the holiday design theme from your site when the party is over. Set a deadline date on your website to take the decorations down automatically in case you forget.

2. Mobile optimization is a-must

According to IBM measurements over the last 7 years, 2014 Thanksgiving was the first time mobile devices have surpassed PCs in generating cyber-sales. Since smartphones and tablets have become part of our daily lives, mobile shopping is gradually prevailing. This also means that many customers will leave un-mobile-friendly websites, and not just in holiday seasons. Thus, it’s high time for WooCommerce webmasters to learn how to adapt to this emerging customer shopping habit.

Woosales Mobile WooCommerce plugin is a power house to help you build the most functional and mobile-friendly version to support customers using iOS as well as Android. Even if you’re new in town, I believe you will know that most of your customers are using these 2 popular mobile device platforms. This plugin can help you create your own comfort zone for mobile shopping because of its many advantages, like real-time sales, detailed product catalogs statistics, history of customer orders as well as reporting facilities.

Make sure you dress up your mobile shopping store for the holidays and be ready to serve your customers well for the best holiday purchase experience.

3. WooCommerce plugins support striking holiday promotion campaign

Holiday seasons mean gifts are on the way. This is a great opportunity to offer your customers some of the best deals they are always searching for. A good promotion campaign can help a lot in increasing your website conversions.

To accomplish this, coupons are a great way to deliver discounts and rewards to your customers. Additionally, do not forget to enable related products, up-sells and cross-sells in your eCommerce website. To be more specific, if your client is searching for a Christmas tree on your site, take this chance to present some related items they might interested in such as decorating lights, fake snows, or even Santa Claus customs.

Besides this, customize your email and newsletters plugins to support your holiday email marketing to remind your customers of your website with featured products as well as your special offers and one-off services provided in your holiday sale.

This will make customer purchases become so easy and convenient as well as encouraging them to shop for more than one product.

4. Optimize SEO for your website on holiday

SEO during holidays is not so different from your routine SEO. One significant point you need to remember is having SEO plan well prepared BEFORE the season takes off because you have to invest a proper period of time in every SEO strategy. These are some SEO-must tips I have picked from normal SEO strategies that you should pay attention to more for holiday preparation.

Submit sitemap with new products and categories for search engine easy index.

Come up with good holiday-related keywords which will be searched for most by your users to earn higher priority from Google.

Adjust title tags, meta tags and meta description on categories and featured products with holiday-related keywords, as well as snippets shown below your website URL.

5. Enhance your website holiday speed performance

Millions of people will shop in your online store during the holidays. Ensuring your online store’s speed performance is one thing you have to deal with before the battle begins. A fast-loading page is also good for SEO too. There are some typical tips you need to take a closer look at to speed up your site as well as maintain your customer experience while purchasing from your website:

Choose a trusted hosting provider from the beginning and never go for shared hosting.

Install CDN (Content Delivery Network) plugin. If you haven’t used a CDN yet, it’s time to set it up for a quicker delivery of heavy product images and CSS sheets to your customers.

Automatically optimize your product images to load quickly. The free plugin WPSmushit will help you to reduce image size automatically while you upload them to your website.

6. Additional tips to support holiday online shopping

Last but not least, to complete your dream holiday sales, every detail should be examined. Small bricks can build a huge castle.

Test your product search page. Make sure it is user-friendly, and consider adding recommendations such as “You are also searching for…” to save your users’ time and more importantly help them make up their minds when buying your products.

Set social media add-ons to make people talk about you and your products. Sharing can bring you surprising sales and traffic these days.

Add “Coming soon” pages for your holiday products which are not yet ready to sell and set up sign in/register plugins to notify users when products are available.

Deactivate the “out of stock” button. You will waste the traffic that comes to your website and lose customers when they see these disappointed words. Maybe you can try a Coming soon plugin to display a massage of “coming soon” products to your customers.

Holiday seasons are always the biggest time of the year for every eCommerce website. Maximum profit and customer satisfaction for the minimum budget are your golden goals in those precious occasions. I hope these useful technical tips can support your marketing campaigns on your websites and make your customers’ holiday shopping more enjoyable as well.

Please feel free to share your holiday sales experience with me. I am so excited to know what effective tips and tricks you applied to your own website.

Author information

Jenny Hoang

Proud to be a happy piece of WooRockets. Sharing and learning interesting stuff is what I love. Feel free to keep in touch with me and speak your mind in the comment section below.

]]>http://thematosoup.com/ecommerce-tips/feed/0WordPress 4.1: What Are We Going to Watchhttp://thematosoup.com/wordpress-4-1/
http://thematosoup.com/wordpress-4-1/#commentsTue, 16 Dec 2014 11:30:34 +0000http://thematosoup.com/?p=6255Read WordPress 4.1: What Are We Going to Watch in your browser.

WordPress 4.0 came quite a while back, praised for its tons of improvements, updates, and functionalities to make the lives of WordPress users easy and delightful. Now, the core team of WordPress is ready to establish another milestone with its next big release in the form WordPress 4.1. There are some great visible changes and […]

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Maria Mincey

Maria Mincey is a prolific writer, who brings to the table a quantum of knowledge around software development services. She works for Xicom Technologies, a web development company which delivers most comprehensive web applications and solutions for different industry verticals.

WordPress 4.0 came quite a while back, praised for its tons of improvements, updates, and functionalities to make the lives of WordPress users easy and delightful. Now, the core team of WordPress is ready to establish another milestone with its next big release in the form WordPress 4.1.

There are some great visible changes and advancements to see in this newly release, but remember, the software is still under the development phase, which means you are should not use the software with your existing websites and blogs. If you want to test WordPress 4.1 beta 1, you can install the WordPress Beta Tester and get a rough idea about the functionality of the upcoming release.

Highlighting Features of WordPress 4.1

One of the major features of 4.1 is the changes in the default theme, people will see more bug fixes, patches, and the new rest API. The version will also praised for its nice writing features, cool internationalization improvement, and the latest and more refined Twenty Fifteen Theme.

1. Distraction Free Writing Mode

WordPress 4.1 is all set with a new and improved distraction free writing mode. Although, the mode was also there in the version 4.0, but in the latest team the team has pushed the dimensions of this feature a bit further by introducing tweaking interactions and scroll functionality. The feature makes it extremely easy for the users to switch back and forth between normal writing mode and distraction free editor mode. In the version 4.1, as soon as the user puts the cursor in the text, everything else fades away, so you don’t lose focus while writing the content.

2. Theme Related Improvements

As far as theme updates are concerned, a new default theme called Twenty Fifteen is being introduced with a clean and beautiful layout. It’s a fashionable theme that fits well when it comes to giving an international touch to your WP website. It supports Google Noto Serif and Sans Serif fonts along with the plenty of languages.

From features point of view, the theme has been updated with rich options including a custom header and background, options for setting color schemes, support for social media buttons and more. All you need is to create a menu in the native WordPress interface to have these icons displayed on your website.

In addition to these, the introduction of new tags make it extremely easy to play around the navigation in templates. Plus, with its Custom Customizer Control API, you can easily register and render your own controls in the Customizer section for maintaining a flawless flow of the theme.

4. Administration Improvements

When it comes to dashboard, one of the best features one could actually take a pleasure of is the language pack support from WordPress.org directly whenever you change the screen settings. Another highlighting feature includes is the so-called ‘Focus’ that enables newbies experience a fully-focused writing mode. Many users usually don’t know about this feature and those who know often fails to make the most out of this mode. By activating the option ‘Focus’ users will be provided with an environment wherein they can write rich content without getting distracted.

5. Inline Image Editing

WordPress users, especially those who are beginners often find it difficult to align images in the WordPress post editor. But, with the forthcoming version, as soon as users will click on the images, they will be able to see alignment options along with a button to clear alignment. The pencil button is still there which will open the image in the popup so that user can continue with the editing work.

6. Export Content

In WordPress 4.1, users will enjoy an improved way to export specific categories, authors, content published within a specified period of time. This way they will be able to establish firm control over content migration.

7. Enhancements for Developers

There are lots of changes introduced for developers to welcome in the upcoming version 4.1. First, the improvements made in the meta, date, comment, and taxonomy queries and querying comment types. Another widely discussed update is the introduction of shared terms, which means you can now have two terms with the common name and slug belonging to different taxonomies.

If you are excited and equally impressed with the features, you can test them by installing WordPress Beta Tester Plugin, which will automatically get you the default Twenty Fifteen theme, and see how well everything performs.

Oh, and tell us your thoughts.

Author information

Maria Mincey

Maria Mincey is a prolific writer, who brings to the table a quantum of knowledge around software development services. She works for Xicom Technologies, a web development company which delivers most comprehensive web applications and solutions for different industry verticals.

]]>http://thematosoup.com/wordpress-4-1/feed/3How Does WordPress Compare to Its Contestants?http://thematosoup.com/wordpress-compare-contestants/
http://thematosoup.com/wordpress-compare-contestants/#commentsThu, 04 Dec 2014 11:27:39 +0000http://thematosoup.com/?p=6207Read How Does WordPress Compare to Its Contestants? in your browser.

WordPress is, without a doubt, the most used Content Management System (CMS) in the world. In fact, statistics provided by W3Techs shows that WordPress has a market share of 61%, with an absolute usage percentage of over 23 per cent, meaning that almost a quarter of all the websites in the world use this CMS. […]

WordPress is, without a doubt, the most used Content Management System (CMS) in the world. In fact, statistics provided by W3Techs shows that WordPress has a market share of 61%, with an absolute usage percentage of over 23 per cent, meaning that almost a quarter of all the websites in the world use this CMS.

The secrets behind the huge success achieved by WordPress are not hard to figure: for starters, its price tag is very appealing, given that it is entirely free and constantly being updated. Not only that, but the endless amount of themes and plugins available, some of which are also free, works like a magnet in attracting users, especially because it is very easy to use. But how does it compare to its contestants?

As noted in a recent article by WebsiteSetup, WordPress, Drupal and Joomla have clearly established themselves as leaders in the CMS game. Being free, easy to use (they do not require that much programming knowledge) and fast from installation to final product (a decent site can be build in 30 minutes or less) are definitely features that help these services to lead this niche.

This leading position is also seen by some of the websites using them: Forbes, CNN and Sony run on WordPress, Harvard University and The Hill use Joomla and The White House, Linux and Warner Bros. roll on Drupal.

However, as one might expect, they are significantly different in their core, despite having multiple overlapping features. WordPress is more aimed for novices and people without much coding experience, and works very well in small and medium sized blogs. Joomla is good for e-commerce sites (not exclusively), but requires some more technical knowledge. Drupal is, from the three, the harder to use, but is also the more powerful CMS around.

All three provide “one click installation”, with manual installation taking 5 minutes for WordPress and 10 minutes for Drupal and Joomla, which is the CMS with the shortest timespan between updates, that clocks at 36 days, against the 42 days for WordPress and 51 for Drupal.

In terms of security, Drupal clearly leads the way, otherwise it would surely not be used by important sites like The White House or data.gov.uk. It offers an enterprise level security that neither WordPress or Joomla can match – especially for WordPress, that many times has plugin-related vulnerabilities that can, if targeted by effective hackers, wipe out the sites using the affected plugins.

Still, WordPress greatly leads in terms of usage in blogs. Not only it is easy to customize, it offers multi-author support, something that is harder to get in the other two CMS. In fact, both Drupal and Joomla are somewhat more aimed to “fixed” websites, and not exactly to blogging, even though it is also possible.

Wrapping up, it is not expected that the CMS niche will change in terms of its leading players. WordPress in the preferred system and will, most likely, keep that position, as blogging is also becoming more and more popular and the blogging heritage is one of the biggest strengths of WordPress.

What do you think about these 3 leading Content Management Systems? Let me know in the comments.

]]>http://thematosoup.com/wordpress-compare-contestants/feed/1How to Get Rid of the WordPress eCommerce Hassleshttp://thematosoup.com/get-rid-wordpress-ecommerce-hassles/
http://thematosoup.com/get-rid-wordpress-ecommerce-hassles/#commentsThu, 27 Nov 2014 07:55:08 +0000http://thematosoup.com/?p=6181Read How to Get Rid of the WordPress eCommerce Hassles in your browser.

WordPress, for all its amazing features and capabilities, can sometimes be a pain to work with, especially for the folks who are novices to the workings of web world. The challenges get bigger and tougher with WordPress-powered eCommerce websites. The challenges, more often than not, have something to do with the security facets of website, […]

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Amy is a web developer by profession and works for Wordprax Ltd., a WordPress outsourcing company with a global reach. Amy loves innovative approach for providing WordPress web development services and has a strong inclination for a suite of creative endeavours.

WordPress, for all its amazing features and capabilities, can sometimes be a pain to work with, especially for the folks who are novices to the workings of web world. The challenges get bigger and tougher with WordPress-powered eCommerce websites.

The challenges, more often than not, have something to do with the security facets of website, or the problems that come tagging along with the updates made on a website or the unpredictability of the whole setup. Having said that, there isn’t a “serious” challenge that doesn’t have a solution to it and today we are going to have a look at the most bona fide and most effective of these solutions.

Solutions to Issues Associated with the Automatic WordPress Updates

The most typical automatic WordPress update issues include those with the custom settings made on a WordPress site, or more importantly, the lack of compatibility of the newly rolled changes with the existing list of plugins installed on the website.

However, the last few versions have made it possible for the webmasters to make a bulk of changes via the updates manually. The updates can be most seamlessly made by the users right on the dashboard. The wp-config.php file can be altered by adding some simple code that will dictate whether you wish to facilitate manual updates, or whether you are okay with automatic updates. You need to write true or false depending on the choice you make.

To begin with, we will begin by enabling or disabling the updates made to the core structure of WordPress theme. For the same would would use the line: ( ‘WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE’, true );

For the folks who wish to facilitate automatic updates to the plugins, they need to add the line, add_filter( ‘auto_update_plugin’, ‘__return_true’ ); to the wp-config.php file.

And for those who are using a readymade theme available to you from the WordPress stack, for disabling the automatic updates, add this line: add_filter ( ‘auto_update_theme’,’__return_false’ );

The importance of themes and plugins is already well documented, and I cannot overstate it further. Therefore, it is only natural that you ensure at all times that they are working in a manner most smooth and glitch free. Compatibility can be a major issue in this regard, so it is recommended that whenever you are running a major update, you use on a child themes.

Solutions for the WordPress Security Pain Points

Again, this is a major concern for any eCommerce webmaster running his or her website on WordPress. Even considering the fact that WordPress is a formidable platform with plenty to go for it, the sea of themes and plugins often put it at risk. The websites that have plugins from the non reliable sources installed on them often find themselves at the wrong end of the hackers, since these plugins create loopholes in their structure that are more than inviting for the hackers.

The security threats become all the more dangerous in the case of eCommerce websites since these sites deal with confidential informational pieces like credit card details and so on. It therefore is critically important for the eCommerce website owners to protect their customers and keep their information from getting intercepted or misused.

Almost all WordPress security plugins are equipped with firewalls and some blockbuster algorithms that are tailored to meet the latest security needs of websites.

Now, from the vast repository of WordPress plugins, you just can’t go with the first plugin you come across. There are a variety of things that need to be taken into account before you hit that install button.

A good plugin should keep the hackers who use brute force attacks at bay. The plugin should add a lock-down feature after it detects some random attempts made to sign in to your website’s dashboard.

You should also look for plugins that check whether the right file permissions are set at the back end of the site or not. It is quite common a scenario where webmasters fail to understand the importance of file permissions, and this leads to a number of security discrepancies with their website.

Database security should always be of prime importance and thus you should go for a plugin that can let you choose a custom value for database prefix and also enable automatic backups of the site.

The WordPress plugin should protect you against threats like cross site scripting, SQL injections and so on.

By following best practices when it comes to WordPress security and installing Wordfence plugin, you will secure your website against potential attacks by hackers.

Once you are clear that the security of your eCommerce website is beyond the standard approach of changing username from admin to something else, it is time to scroll through a few WordPress themes that are tailor-made for online store management.

eCommerce WordPress Themes

Free WordPress.org themes go through rigorous theme check and can handle basic eCommerce needs. If creating a minimally designed eCommerce website is on your agenda, Gumbo is your go-to WordPress theme. Created with great attention to detail, Gumbo is not just visually appealing, but responsive to a great deal as it adapts seamlessly to different OS platforms and screen sizes.

Apart from the afore-mentioned WordPress themes, we also have a host of WordPress plugins to further enrich the site’s functionalities. WooCommerce is easily the most famed of those plugins that can well and truly bring about a complete transformation of your non-eCommerce theme and make it totally tailored to host an online store. There are also other plugins like WP eCommerce, iThemes Exchange and so on that can prove to be really handy.

eCommerce websites are always on the radar of hackers. So, if you’re running one, be sure you know how to protect it, because breached security is the biggest hassle you can experience.

Author information

Amy is a web developer by profession and works for Wordprax Ltd., a WordPress outsourcing company with a global reach. Amy loves innovative approach for providing WordPress web development services and has a strong inclination for a suite of creative endeavours.

An age old adage reads something like, “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”. Now, among all the content management systems available to humanity, WordPress is the frontrunner, others being distant second. Does that make WordPress uneasy? Damn right. Especially when it tries to grab more than it can chew. The bloating uneasiness is […]

Author information

Sarah Parker

Sarah Parker is a blogger & WordPress designer. She adores composing data rich websites on converting PSD to WordPress theme service. Right now, she is utilized with Designs2html Ltd, a markup conversion organization that has conveyed top-grade markup transformation administrations since 8 years.

An age old adage reads something like, “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”. Now, among all the content management systems available to humanity, WordPress is the frontrunner, others being distant second.

Does that make WordPress uneasy? Damn right. Especially when it tries to grab more than it can chew. The bloating uneasiness is further elevated when it comes to WordPress multipurpose themes.

Why Are They Popular in the First Place

A popular catchword goes around the web development community, “Code once, deploy everywhere”. The multipurpose themes are a product of this motto.

The fact that it lets web developers create themes that can be used for just about every kind of website seemingly reduces their effort which would otherwise be channelized to create themes to suit varying purposes – creating separate themes for business profiles, create themes for news agencies, create themes for an article website and so on. When all of this is combined in one theme, developers are spared so much of rewriting work.

Just to be clear, there are themes that have multipurpose design. Here, we’re talking about themes that want to encompass all your present and future needs in terms of both design and functionality; “all-in-one”, “unlimited-options” themes.

But more than the web developers, it is the webmasters who grapple with temptation these themes provoke. After all, versatile and all-encompassing websites are on everyone’s agenda. When a single website is offering rich pleasures of multiple domains, why not go for them!

With enhanced wherewithal and boundless features as their strong suit, the multipurpose themes have managed to create a niche for themselves in the web realm.

But, is versatility and all-domains-relevance all that there is to multipurpose themes? Most definitely not. Imperfections reign supreme with such themes and are hard to glide past by.

Multipurpose themes, for everything they are worth, also happen to swing a host of discrepancies at webmasters and users. And most of these issues have more or less to do with performance, bloated site, unsolicited layers of complexity and lack of support services. All these combined do manage to outlast the benefits and quite comprehensibly. Let’s take a look at them individually:

Multipurpose WordPress Themes Have Bloated CSS

CSS dictates the styling of WordPress websites. And when you are building a theme that is meant to squeeze itself into every kind of website, you obviously need to flood the CSS with multifaceted functions, a massive number of elements which would not otherwise be combined in a single CSS and a hell lot of coding. The heavier your CSS is, the slower website becomes.

Of all the parameters considered crucial for a website’s success, user experience stands at the forefront.

When you fail to deliver a website to your users that loads quickly and is portable across different platforms and screen sizes, you are already beginning on a wobbly footing. For any website’s stable success, responsiveness has to be an intrinsic attribute.

With more and more Internet users resorting to their Smartphones to access web, it has become mandatory for webmasters to have a website that is compatible with a suite of operating systems and are displayed in their truest form even on the smaller devices like tablets and phones.

Responsiveness takes a major hit when CSS finds itself buckled under a truckload of code and that’s exactly what happens in the case of multipurpose themes. Because these are built to cater to just about every type of site, most of the features in multipurpose themes prove to be unnecessary for a webmaster who is running not more than 3 sites.

Multipurpose WordPress Themes are Hard to Update

There is no point running a website if you don’t update it frequently. Of all the things, lack of updates puts your website’s security at risk. When the authentication algorithms of your websites turn obsolete, they are easy to break into by hackers since they have devised new tools to crack old codes.

While WordPress does offer frequent update facility, with multipurpose themes, the update process becomes a little more unwieldy. The themes out there with features for different genres do not launch frequent updates, to begin with. And even when they do, the whole process takes much more time than the usual.

Hard to Maintain

The underlying structure of multipurpose architecture is way too complex for the developers and technologically novice webmasters. The PHP codes of such themes contain piles of functions and thus, reading and understanding them becomes quite a task. For the webmasters handling a multipurpose theme, there is so much on dashboard to explore and understand that handling the website becomes a sweat soaked exercise no less.

The learning curve for multipurpose theme is long and steep. It takes more than acceptable amount of time to master its intricacies and get a firm handle over its methods. The WordPress tutorials available do make the exercise a little more feasible, but the time taken is what keeps certain folks at bay.

Customization Crippled

Lighter a theme is on its feet, more flexible it is. With multipurpose theme getting together features from all the world, the flexibility goes for a toss. What you instead get is a rigid product that cannot be tailored as per you please.

A theme with eCommerce features may contain the requisites of an online store, but to give your store an exclusive identity, you need to personalize it. However, multipurpose themes leave little room for personalization and customization and take a lot of time to configure.

Fine-tuning your WordPress theme that is branching out in all directions is an impossibly hard task. It may not be accomplished by even hard slog on your part. Only when you get on board some blockbuster programmers can you expect them to override the coded features and doctor them to suit your business requisites.

What are you doing with that massive code, anyway?

Alright, a larger chunk of it is unused, but does that ensure no impact? A piece of code may not be in use, but it’s still being loaded every time your website is accessed because it is located in the core of your website.

For all intents and purposes, the multipurpose theme might end up doing more harm to your website than good. Get smartened to the ways of WordPress and you might not even need the multipurpose themes for their virtues.

Author information

Sarah Parker

Sarah Parker is a blogger & WordPress designer. She adores composing data rich websites on converting PSD to WordPress theme service. Right now, she is utilized with Designs2html Ltd, a markup conversion organization that has conveyed top-grade markup transformation administrations since 8 years.